A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

436 POLITES. POLLTO.
Christ, as he is mentioned by Origen (Co2nt. Cels. POLIU'CHOS (loAhtoXos), i.e. "protecting
i. 33. p.351, ed. Bened.), and from his style hecan- the city," occurs as a surname of several divinities,
not be supposed to have lived much earlier than this such as Athena Chalcioecus at Sparta. (Paus. iii.
time. His work, which appears to have suffered 17. ~ 2), and of Athena at Athens. (Comp.
much from the ignorance of transcribers, consists ATHENA.) [L. S.]
of two books: in the first, which contains twenty- POLLA, the name of several Roman females,
three chapters, after proving the utility of phy- was merely another form of Paulla, like Clodius
siognomy, he lays down the general principles of of Claudius.
the science; he speaks of the shape of the head, 1. The wife of D. Brutus, one of the murderers
the colour of the hair, of the forehead, the eyes, of Caesar. Cicero calls her simply Polla (ad Fanz.
the ears, the nose, the manner of breathing, the xi. 8), but we learn from a letter of Caelius
sound of the voice, &c.; in the second book, which (ad Farn. viii. 7) that her full name was Paulla
consists of twenty-seven chapters, he goes on to Valeria. She was a sister of the C. Valerius
apply the principles he had before laid down, and Triarius, who was tribune of the plebs B. C. 51,
describes in a few words the characters of the and who subsequently served in the civil war in
courageous man, the timid, the impudent, the Pompey's fleet. She divorced her husband, whose
passionate, the talkative, &c. It was first pub- name is not mentioned, in B. C. 50, without being
lished in Greek by Camillus Peruscus, with able to give any reason for so doing, and then
Aelian's "Varia Historia," and other works, at married D. Brutus (ad Fam. viii. 7).
Rome, 1545, 4to. It was translated into Latin 2. The mother of L. Gellius Publicola. (Dion
by Nicolaus Petreius, and published with Me- Cass. xlvii.'24, where the manuscripts have
letius " De Natura Hominis," and other works, Palla.)
at Venice, 1552, 4to. The last and best edition 3. The sister of M. Agrippa. (Dion Cass. Iv. 8.)
is that by J. G. F. Franz in his " Scriptores Phy- 4. ACERRONIA POLLA, the friend of Agrippina,
siognomoniae Veteres," Altenburg. 1780. 8vo. is spoken of under ACERRONIA.
in Greek and Latin, with a Preface and Notes. 5. VESPASIA POLLA, the daughter of Vespasius
It was translated into Arabic, and is still extant Pollio, and the mother of the emperor Vespasian.
in that language. [PHILEMON]. (See Franz's (Suet. Vesp. 1.)
Preface to his "Script. Physioyn. VTet." and Penny 6. ARGENTARIA POLLA, the wife of the poet'Cyclopaedia.) [W. A. G.] Lucan. (Stat. Silv. ii. 7. 62, &c.; Martial, vii. 21,
PO'LEMON, of Alexandria, a painter men- 23, x. 64.)
tioned by Pliny among those who were non igno- POLLE'NIUS SEBENNUS, lived in the
biles quidem, in transcusrse tamen dicendi (H. V. reign of Alexander Severus (Dion Cass. lxxvi. 9.)
xxxv. 11. s. 40. ~ 42). [P. S.] POLLES (I'NAhls). Suidas mentions (s. v. MePO'LIAS (Iuohias), i. e. " the goddess protect- Adu7rovs), that Melampus and Polles had acquired
ing the city," a surname of Athena at Athens, such celebrity as diviners, that there was a current
where she was especially worshipped as the pro- proverb, " It needs a Melamnpus or a Polles to divilae
tecting divinity of the acropolis. (Paus. i. 27. ~ 1; it." He was a native of Aegae in Asia Minor, and
Arnob. adv. Gent. vi. 193.) [L. S.] wrote copiously on the subject of divination in all
PO'LICHUS, artist. [PToLIcHUs.] its forms; as on the prognostications to be derived
POLIEUS (HoXLers), "the protector of the from the objects that met a traveller on his way;
city," a surname of Zeus, under which he had an from what occurred at home; regarding the result
altar on the acropolis at Athens. Upon this altar of diseases; and similar subjects, for which see
barley and wheat were strewed, which were con- Suidas (s. n.'OIwraOTIK'nr, o'AhAs). [W. M. G.]
sumed by the bull about to be sacrificed to the god. POLLEX, one of Cicero's slaves. (Cic. ad Farm.
The priest who killed the victim, threw away the xiv. 6, ad Att. viii. 5, xiii. 46, 47.)
axe as soon as he had struck the fatal blow, and POLLIA'NUS (lwAmhavos), an epigrammatic
the axe was then brought before a court of justice. poet, five of whose pieces are preserved in the
(Paus. i. 24. ~ 4, 28. ~ 11.) [L. S.] Greek Anthology. From the first of these epigrams
POLI'OCHUS (IoAtoXos), an Athenian comic it is probable that he was a grammarian; the third
poet, of uncertain age, of whom two fragments only is addressed to a poet named Florus, who is posoccur in Athenaeus (vii. p. 313, c. ii. p. 60, c.), sibly the Florus who lived under Hadrian; but
the one from his KoplvOaa'arrsr, and the other from there is no other indication of the writer's age.
a play, of which the title is not mentioned. (Mei- (Brunck, Anal. vol. ii. p. 439; Jacobs, Anth.
*neke, Frag. Corn. Graec. vol. i. p. 498, vol. iv. Graec. vol. iii. pp. 146,147, vol. xiii. p. 940.) [P. S.]'pp. 589, 590.) [P. S.] PO'LLIO, artists. 1. A gem-engraver (Bracci,
POLIORCE'TES, DEME'TRIUS. [DEME- Praef. ad Comm. ii. p. 6).
TRIUS, p. 962.] 2. C. Postumius, an architect, whose name occurs
POLIS, a statuary, mentioned by Pliny among in an inscription in the cathedral at Terracina;
*those who made athletas et armatos et venatores sa- from which it may be inferred, with much probabi-crficantesque (H. N. xxxiv. 8. s. 19. ~ 34). [P.S.] lity, that he was the architect of the celebrated
POLI'TES (lHoViris). 1. A son of Priam and temple of Apollo at that place. From another in-:Hecabe, and father of Priam the younger, was a scription it appears that C. Cocceius, the architect
valiant warrior, but was slain by Pyrrhus. (Horn. of the temple of Augustus at Pozzuoli, was the
11. ii. 791, xiii. 533, xxiv. 250; Virg. Aen. ii. 526, freedman and disciple of this Postumius Pollio.
v. 564.) (R. Rochette, Lettre a M.I. Schorn, pp. 440-441,
2. A companion of Odysseus, who is said to 2nd ed.) [P. S.]
have been worshipped as a hero at Temesa in Italy. PO'LLIO, A'NNIUS, was accused of treason
(Hom. Od. x. 224; Strab. vi. p. 255.) (majestas) towards the end of the reign of Tibe3. One of the companions of Menelaus. (Paus. rius, but was not brought to trial. He was subs. 25. ~ 2.) [L. S.] sequently one of Nero's intimate friends, but was